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Howdy and welcome back to campus!

We take this opportunity to inform you of some news that will impact residents of Crocker, Moore and McInnis Halls. The Texas A&M System Board of Regents has authorized the university to build a new 600-bed north-side residence hall, the university’s first new residence hall since 1989. All current residence halls were built between 1911 and 1989, many of which we believe must be updated and/or replaced to better meet the needs of our students. In 2007, the Department of Residence Life with the participation of the Residence Hall Association student leadership completed an extensive campus-wide Student Housing Master Plan to examine on-campus student living and develop short and long range plans for enhancing on-campus living for students. As a result, and in keeping with the university’s firm commitment to maintain and enhance the positive on-campus residential experience for our students, the decision was made to provide a contemporary, high-quality, long-term living environment for our undergraduate students and to ensure that our on-campus facilities remain the place of choice in local student accommodations. Building a new north-side residence hall is the next major step in our on-going effort to enhance service to our students living on campus. The new facility also will allow us to better manage increased campus enrollment projections, create desired academic enhancement and collaboration initiatives and provide modern apartment-style living accommodations as preferred by an increasing number of students.

Following an extensive review of various campus locations for the new residence hall, we determined that the Crocker, Moore, and McInnis Halls area is the most logical location to build the new state-of-the-art facility. Why Crocker, Moore and McInnis? There are several factors that went in to the selection of these halls. This location supports the Student Housing Master Plan, the University Master Plan and Vision 2020. Also, corridor halls are becoming increasingly less desirable (during the year or for summer conference groups) and McInnis Hall renovation life span was reached in 2010.

While plans are still being formulated, it is our intent to phase out Crocker, Moore and McInnis Halls after students vacate the facilities in May 2011. Please know that decisions of this magnitude are certainly not made in haste or without significant student input. I take this opportunity to address concerns – understandably so – that you may have about this important decision.

Here is what has been decided after extensive review:
1) Crocker, Moore, and McInnis Halls will no longer be available after the May 2011 Spring Semester and it will not be a choice in Housing Decision 2011.
2) The new residence hall, yet to be named, is scheduled to open in 2013.
3) Residents of Crocker, Moore, and McInnis Halls may be given priority in Housing Decision 2011. One option for alternate housing may be the newest Phase II apartments scheduled to open in August 2011. Details continue to develop.
4) Students will have an integral role in the planning process for the new residence hall, relocation of residents and in commemorating Crocker, Moore and McInnis and their history as part of campus living and honor their place in the lives of Aggies, the “heart of their experience.”
5) The North Area Office will need to be relocated. The new location has yet to be determined.

The Residence Life staff, working closely with students, will work on the logistics as the planning proceeds. Your hall leadership also will be involved and we will keep you apprised of updates. With your cooperation and support we can preserve the legacy of these residence halls and provide a smooth transition.

In the meantime, there is some exciting news for Moore and McInnis: Moore has new furniture throughout and McInnis has new lounge furnishings. We certainly hope you will enjoy these new enhancements.

Sincerely,

Chareny Rydl
Director of Residence Life

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Not sure if this has been posted or discussed.

Below is the response I receive after emailing RESLIFE.

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Howdy! Thank you for your message.

In July, 2010, the building of a new residence hall was approved by the Texas A&M University Board of Regents. This hall, the first new construction of a residence hall on campus since 1989, will complement the new classroom, learning and laboratory space the Aggies are building across campus. In addition to this, we are excited that around the same time the new MSC opens its doors, we will open a state-off-the art residence hall where future generations of Aggies will live. Following an extensive review of various campus locations for the new residence hall, we determined that the Crocker, Moore, and McInnis Halls area is the most logical location to build the new contemporary, high-quality place to live. Why Crocker, Moore and McInnis? There are several factors that went in to the selection of these halls. This location supports the Student Housing Master Plan, the University Master Plan and Vision 2020. Also, as popular as these halls once were, we now struggle each year to fill the corridor halls. Unfortunately, they are becoming increasingly less desirable (during the year or for summer conference groups) and McInnis Hall renovation life span was reached in 2010. Staff members in the Department of Residence Life look forward to working with former residents of Crocker, Moore, and McInnis to commemorate these amazing halls and the communities that were established and flourished inside their walls.

Below, I have copied the letter that was distributed to all residents of Crocker, Moore, and McInnis Halls at opening on August, 22, 2010.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thanks and Gig 'Em!

Kathy

Kathy Collins, Ph.D.

Associate Director for Residence Education
Department of Residence Life
Texas A&M University
kathy_collins@housing.tamu.edu

1253 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-1253

Tel. 979-862-3158 Fax. 979-862-2434

http://reslife.tamu.edu/

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There's a spirit can ne'er be told
It's the Spirit of Aggieland.

We will never forget 11.18.1999
BTHO Bonfire

take advantage of the housing priority...

Have as many continuing residents as you can simply move to the same dorm... maybe even coordinate it with the other two that are disappearing.

that way each dorm community will simply move to a new building and can continue to live, and recruit for Bonfire.

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Have as many continuing residents as you can simply move to the same dorm... maybe even coordinate it with the other two that are disappearing

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QFT

It's not a coincidence that the year after they closed ][otard, HHH had a bonfire crew with two old ho's as chiefs. I think it'd be great if y'all moved as a group to a random southside dorm and kinda took it over. Find one that used to have an active community, and bring it back.

Translated:

What's left of the kids born without silver spoons in their mouths need to go find a duplex in Bryan.


[This message has been edited by barney94 (edited 8/28/2010 5:11p).]

It is with great sadness to here about the end of these great dorms. I lived in McInnis from Fall 1977 to Spring 1981. I had many great memories living in McInnis and my association with Texas A&M.

Thanks for great experience.

Sincerely

David R. Feuerborn
Houston,Texas
Class of 1981

After discussing the situation w/ my roomates, a few other things have dawned on me:

They're closing 3 all male dorms. Unless they're all gonna try to move into walton or appelt, they'll have to move into a co-ed dorm. What that means is that if any large number of them move together, that dorm isn't going to have any male fish that year. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but it can be an issue.

The letter doesn't say they're going to get priority housing, it says they may get priority housing. They may also say go gig yourself like they did to moses. Or they may say you can all move to the university apt.s for a lot more $$$. That would be the worst of all for the residents in question, IMHO. At That point, just go live off campus and be done with it.

Also, how long will it be before there are no more single sex dorms?

______________
Hotard Hilton
1958-2005
R.I.P.

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They're closing 3 all male dorms. Unless they're all gonna try to move into walton or appelt, they'll have to move into a co-ed dorm. What that means is that if any large number of them move together, that dorm isn't going to have any male fish that year. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but it can be an issue.

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Get past the gender issue.

As someone that always cut with a coed crew, here's a tip: Get plenty of girls out to Bonfire and guys will show up practically without being asked, even those that don't live in the dorm.

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Also, how long will it be before there are no more single sex dorms?

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In 1999, there were 25 single-sex dorms (13 M, 12 F). Today, there are 13 (5 M, 8 F). If this rate continues, the last single-sex dorm will be closed or made co-ed in 2021.

However, it may be sooner than that. The closure of 3 all-male dorms will mess up the ratio, so expect several all-female dorms to be made co-ed to compensate.

I wonder if Student Bonfire could enter the housing market...

axe handle wake-ups would come back in a hurry!

The University's finally tumbled to the fact that the all-male dorms are the lifeblood of Student Bonfire. They're also the lifeblood of remaining dorm traditions from pre-99. They're the dorms that still train fish by old methods and standards, and expect them to continue doing the same.

That's not to take away anything from FHK and (now) Neeley. But the last 11 years have seen higher turn out on a more consistent basis from the all male dorms.

They came for Hotard, and the students voiced their concerns--and were ignored. They came for Legget, and the students raised hell--and ResLife took over half the dorm for bureaucracy. They came for Moses, and no one said ****. Because we weren't lovable, huggable, and were the meanest mother****ers on campus. Now, they're coming for the other all-male dorms, and there's not enough people left that could put up legitimate resistance.


Let's be clear.

ResLife doesn't care about you. They don't care about your living conditions. They don't care about your friends, your community, your spirit, or your environment. They care about Vision 2020. They care about "modernizing" a school through "progress" and pissing on anything and anyone they need to in order to "accomplish" their "goals." Bonfire isn't coming back to campus. They've pretty much guaranteed that. So all that's left is to methodically demolish the population of students that build Bonfire off-campus. How do you do that? All freshman, co-ed dorms. Tearing down dorms. Evicting entire populations of kids from places they've lived for a couple years--whether they were involved in problems or not. They don't care about your rent checks either. They parked a video camera in 225 Moses for an entire year, forgoing thousands of dollars of revenue, for the chance to catch us violating student rules. No bull****. Rather than have two more residents, they'd rather have surveillance.

Now don't get me wrong. I always knew right from wrong when I reached a crossroads. When I lived in Moses, the only thing that ever had me take the right one was the likelihood of arrest or expulsion--and half the time, I ignored those factors for loyalty to friends or good old fashioned hellraising. But there were good kids in my dorm that shouldn't have had to pay the price for the problems caused by others. Hell, they break up dorm damages by floor. Therefore, they acknowledge that every individual isn't responsible for the entire dorm. So why hold the dorm responsible for the actions of individuals? Because. they. don't. give. a. ****.

Every single dorm on campus is scheduled to be demolished sometime in the next 10-30 years except the ones on the quad.

New Army lives at Reed Arena

Howdy!

Let us take this opportunity as a challenge. And when I say challenge, I do not mean an impossible feat. While this decision stirs emotions of uncertainty, sadness, and frustration, think about this:

Eight years ago I'd bet that there wasn't 25 sons of *****es in Brazos county outside the student body that believed that Bonfire would EVER burn again regardless of where it was held. It was that CHALLENGE that the AGGIES overcame! Now fast-forward to now.

The worst thing that a resident of these dorms can do is believe the lie that the dorm makes the person. That is a load of bull ****. The aggregate of people coming together under a common goal makes the dorm.

ResLife WANTS you to think the dorm makes the "man". Therefore, buying into this ideology allows you to kill the tradition by forging a defeatist attitude. Think this is false, then ask some dorm folks what happened to the old passdown items when it was announced that Bonfire wasn't coming back, or even before then after the fall. The defeatist attitude fueled by feelings of sentiment of what some son of a ***** calls "Ol Army" is a poison pill that the administration hopes will be swallowed.

Think about this, when the dorms in question were built (mainly the corridor types) I'll also speculate that the folks that moved into them were happy as little larks that they weren't spending their nights in tents. Buildings have design lives, they'll come and go. Get used to it.

It's time now that the leaders of these dorms formulate a program NOW and decide the future of the Spirit that the residents of the dorm represent. The dorm (as a building) is simply a building when you get down to it. It is the will, fortitude, and perserverance of the folks that live in them that makes the place. For now, it's time to sack up and deal with it and not cry for yesterday.

James Thomas Frazier '07



Never mind the mule being blind, just load the god dammned wagon.

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In the meantime, there is some exciting news for Moore and McInnis: Moore has new furniture throughout and McInnis has new lounge furnishings

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Why buy new furniture if you're only planning to use it for one year?

It would appear that Student Bonfire is in a race with the administration. If SB can gain enough momentum and support to the point that every incoming freshman knows about it before the administration eliminates all of the things that build the Aggie Spirit, then the mythical "ol' Army" will endure in some form.

That being said, Mr. Frazier is right: a building does not make an experience. It's nice to have a tangible object or place to point to, but change is inevitable. The loss of the dorms will sting, but with the proper attitude, we as Aggies can and will endure. Just look at the fire we built last year. And look how many people enjoyed it with us.

Gig 'em.

Despite the subject matter, you have to give ResLife credit for hiring someone who understands logic and grammar. This letter is so much better than "The decision is in your hands" was.

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Let us take this opportunity as a challenge. And when I say challenge, I do not mean an impossible feat. While this decision stirs emotions of uncertainty, sadness, and frustration,

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You know, I could easily imagine someone saying the exact same thing on the dreary afternoon of February 4, 2002. And that's what makes me realize that you're absolutely right. We've overcome much worse setbacks than this.

I've spoken with the 'administration' a couple of times over the last year or two (by that I mean various individuals that rank at the top of their department: corps, reslife, admin, stuact, finance, facilities) and I'm left with the impression that theres no grand conspiracy to kill off or suppress SB, despite reslife having done us no favors in recent memory.

True, some I've spoken with don't like it or are concerned, mostly because they figure that anything negative that happens out there will inevitably be linked back to the school. Some still hurt from '99. But others are indifferent or could be supporters if the environment was right, and really all that takes is a majority of the students (current or former) supporting and clamoring for something.

Burn is when SB wins the most public support, and they've all gone off pretty damn well. But this many years on I can still talk to Ags that are at every football game but have no idea Bonfire still burns. Thats crazy and unacceptable to me.

Its been voiced on here before but I'll bring it up again for good measure: Burn night needs more planning, coordination, and access points than have been present in the past. We do ourselves no favors if as many people as are at stack site are turn still on the road and turned away. I'm not trying to disparage the efforts of organizers the last couple of years, just reiterate the significance of getting as many people to burn as possible.

Hwy 6 runs two ways, OSR runs two ways, Old Hearne Rd runs two ways, each direction is another way to access burn site - and there are back roads people can take to get there. A wider variety of routes ought to be published for the directionally challenged. And there absolutely could be more than one gate for cars to turn in and more than one ticket table for people to pay at. The fence is easy to fix, make a new gate.

High attendance events are about getting people in and out faster than whats humanly possible.

+1 JamesT

Cutting more gates is fine and well if the land is at the corner of Old Hearne and OSR. Then is makes sense to have people come both directions down OSR. As that is not the case, we still have to get everyone down Old Hearne. With the vast majority of people coming from the south on 6, coming from the north on Old Hearne isn't really effective or attractive to many attendees, either. Under the given circumstances, cutting more gates is not going to help a whole lot. Trust me, as someone who directly dealt with parking last year, we forked the road on the property as much as possible in an attempt to keep traffic moving once it was through the gate, which is really all additional gates accomplish anyway. Add in the steep drop-off along the rest of the property line where gates could be cut, and it becomes more effective to use the gate you've got and fork the path when you can. When you have heavy rain ~2-3 days before Burn, it complicates things, too. Just a little. You can't plan for that, at least not when the owner of the land doesn't want his land permanently damaged (i.e., dumping a bunch of Quickcrete down a path, etc.)

I will say that having traffic coming down OSR from the west would be amazing if we had direct access to Stack site from there. But unless we can get the land owners between Stack and OSR to give us a strip of land for once-a-year use as a road, that's probably an unlikely scenario.

I love being back at school, always learning new things...

At very least, y'all might give some thought to the new directions posted on the website that suggest taking 2818. The way it's written it still backs up 6, and there are two roads from 2818 that cut by lake Bryan and run straight into osr. I'd think it better to have those roads full than the state highway.

I've got more than enough time this fall to lend a hand for the end of season activities. I'm gonna keep beating the horse till then!

Mr. Cooper is right when it comes to traffic flow and congestion. As it sits now, you could have as many roads to the property as you wanted and traffic would queue do the entrance points.

Consider the personnel needed to collect monies due per car at the gate and this further compounds the problem.

Please keep this topic in your minds, as this is a very important issue at hand. Let the leaders know of your suggestions, but not 5 minutes before burn.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that the leadership is working hard on such problems as I have discussed these same problems with them. Also keep in mind that you are turning a plug of traffic from a State Highway onto a Farm -to- Market and then onto a county road. The latter two roadways are not designed to take this drastic increase of traffic. Consider the stop at 6 and OSR. Consider the sharp turn at OSR and Old Hearne. To enter onto OSR, one MUST LAWFULLY STOP at the intersection.

Also, remember that the traffic control pattern is approved of by the regulatory powers (TxDOT).

Any suggestions are welcome, but please remember that there are constraints that have to be worked around.

JTF '07



Never mind the mule being blind, just load the god dammned wagon.

I've never believed it's anything other than a professionally planned operation and conducted as such. As with anything, and to the annoyance of some, I prefer a plurality of voices and ideas. To clear the water, I'm not trying to elevate myself to the level of, or undermine the positions of, SB leadership past or present.

I know most of what I say is undermined by ignorance, but I've gotta ask the questions or make a point and be corrected to learn anything. And I prefer to know than to not, regardless of the expense.

I raise these points now because I did not last year, and for the reason you mentioned: a suggestion made too late is pointless, but mostly because I want to see the organization do well and grow.

So if I were to have a suggestion about the ticket tables (for instance), should I send that thru the email on the SB website or throw it up here and hope it gets read?

Eloquent as ever, Mr Frazier.

HAHA! So the jist of this topic as I see it is: ResLife is closing these three dorms to somehow prevent Student Bonfire?? If you seriously think that, y'all are coo coo for Coco Puffs!!

If you don't want them messing with your dorms join the Corps...

Mr. Nolan,

If it was me and I had a suggestion then I would email it to the address listed on Student Bonfire's website.

JTF '07



Never mind the mule being blind, just load the god dammned wagon.

jcaldwell,

I'm not sure how you concluded that anyone here thinks that, but dorm life is a big part of recruiting for Bonfire, and two of these dorms historically have large numbers at cut & stack while the third brings in members, too.

Nobody is saying that ResLife is closing these dorms to hurt Bonfire, but when these dorms are closed Bonfire could see a dip in recruitment. It is just something that has to be addressed...

welcome to non-university sponsored organizations.

I hope so badly I'm wrong in believing this and would love to find hope and inspiration in James Frazier's thoughts...but having been here in College Station for the past 7 years...having seen the changes...having had the opportunity to hear and read about what this campus WAS prior to 99, and seeing where we are now...I'm just more inclined, and even more saddened, to believe that by the time my kids get here, we'll be much less recognizeable than ever before.

With the loss of Crocker, Moses, Moore, and McInnis all in a relatively short time span...we lose the very connection that existed to a great amount of intangible Aggie Spirit that there was on Northside. Walton, HHH...those are still there, but their time is coming soon as well. What we'll be left with is a very sanitized co-ed...Southside experience. The very conditions I've bemoaned in the past for allowing such a culture to take root are the very reasons why this place, this campus, this town, this ring, and this Bonfire are so special. The biggest challenge that awaits us now, like Mr. Frazier said, is can we cultivate the same pride...a pride that was largely derived out of adversity...that those buildings did. While it's true that the buildings didn't create the people, or the friendships, or the memories...they did foster an environment where you could fill the bathrooms up with water 4 feet high with your buddies, they had you feet away from your best friends at nearly all times, they were minimalist by design subconsciously forcing us to open our doors and meet our neighbors. We may be movin on up with regard to our living conditions, but we'll only be moving farther away from one another.

One last point that touches on my point from earlier...I was at Spoons with my fiance in line, and granted this isn't the Chicken or 3rd deck at Kyle Field...but it still offers a pretty good cross-section of who the student body is these days. Two folks caught my eye...a young lady with a b**** white shirt with no sleeves and the only things on her shoulders were her bright blue bra straps. The other was a young man wearing his church retreat shirt, his fishcamp bandana over his dyed platinum blonde hair with pink striping in it. I felt like an old fogey, but I said it anyways...these weren't the kind of folks I saw when I came to A&M just 7 years ago. I just feel like were getting further and further away from where we were, and it's sad to me.

Well that's odd because I saw people like that when *I* came to A&M 14 years ago. Must be cyclical.

People have talking about how much better the community was when THEY were there for 100 years.

New Army, Going To Hell Since 1877

New Army or not, getting rid of 4-year same-sex dorms (in essence the Aggie "Greek System", will lead to a change in culture and something else taking up the void.

Well, james t, you have given me an epiphony with your post-i used to think that walton hall turned residents into s***bags, but now I understand that its just s***bags move into walton hall. Of course there are exceptions to the rule!
If u don't like it ill just have to beat the dog s*** out of you

Well I am glad to see that you are in classic form. Hope to see you around this fall.

JTF



Never mind the mule being blind, just load the god dammned wagon.

Until 99, the Corps was the largest "voluntary" recruiting pool Aggie Bonfire had. With the resistance that the Commandant threw in the way for several years (such as confining the Corps to barracks on Corps Brass, which happened to also be Burn night and a Saturday) that made Corps participation rough in the first few years, Student Bonfire has seen its biggest participation from non-regs. The bulk of those non-regs came from the all male Northside dorms and FHKplex. You didn't see a bunch of gals from DG, Haas, or McFadden. Neeley had turnout, as did Legget. Hart always fielded solid crews, and Dunn started their lines again.


But Crocker averaged a crew of 20+ consistently for three to four years while I was there. Moses always ran the quality over quantity route, but still put up really good log numbers compared to crew size. McInnis started showing up, and Moore always had good crews in the woods. Walton's load crews have been solid as long as I can recall. Hotard had solid traditions and insane spirit, but they got the axe. They moved to Schuhmacher in spirit, and started over.

Now Moses's Bonfire tradition is _dead_. Our pots PASSED in 99, they didn't burn. We had unbroken chief lines back to Sparks in 74 & 75, whose son is class of 09 Moses RAB. Sparks showed up for Burn in 05, his son's fish year. He drove from MCALLEN the SAME day to be there. We had a 19 year tradition of Moses Games, where the floors competed for bragging rights in a wide variety of intramural events ranging from football to 42 to dodgeball to capture the flag. It was an AMAZING way for us to get former residents back and involved with the newest kids, and create a bond of continuity that spanned up to 10 years of A&M student experience at a time. Guys from class of ought2 & ought3 sitting down with kids from the class of 2010. You don't get that anywhere else but the Northside all male dorms. Moses did its own Burn almost every year, on the land of a guy that was class of 95. Seventeen years since he set foot in Moses for the first time, he was still having kids come out and build a small fire and stay on his land. Moses was so much more than Bonfire for me. It was a place where I could know 90% of the residents. It was a place where I lived with my door unlocked for 9 months except when me and my roommate were both gone all weekend. It was a place where no matter how tough **** got, or what time of night it was, I could find someone to smoke a cigarette and talk about something other than football and booze.


By knocking down Moore, Crocker and McInnis in the next 18 months, and then not having housing for those students for 2 years after that, ResLife has effectively created a vacuum for those dorms' years of traditions. There's no reasonable way that you're going to take those 3 years of guys and find housing for all of them in nearby dorms that would allow them to keep their traditions alive. You're certainly not going to be able to mold 3 dorms of Bonfire tradition into a 600 person megadorm very easily.


I wish all those guys the best of luck. I'd love to see them dig deep and find a way to get back into the oversized monstrosity their dorms used to be, and create a sense of community such as that which existed before. But it's easy to build community in smaller, isolated places than it is in larger places. While this megadorm may not be shaped like the Commons, it could very well end up like the bulk of it, where residents barely know anyone other than their suitemates. I hope you guys find a way to prevent that. It'd be awesome to see the numbers a place like that could pull for Cut and Stack. It'd be awesome if THAT became a place where the residents knew each other so well that they could leave their doors unlocked without fear of thievery. I genuinely hope you kids find a way to make that happen.

You owe it to yourselves, your chiefs, your dads and granddads. But you ALSO owe it to your sons, grandsons and great-grandsons. Find a way to keep the lines going, and then take them right into that effing brick ****-house and nurture them on into the future.

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Until 99, the Corps was the largest "voluntary" recruiting pool Aggie Bonfire had

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Lol is that what they teach you kids these days?

Ignore That Guy. He is a complete idiot--I know because I lived in Moses the same time he did, and he's just as cynical now as he was then.